The Philippines said on Thursday it had deported 279 Taiwanese accused of running a multi-million-dollar online scam that prompted stepped-up airport screening to guard against criminal gangs.
The Taiwanese were put on two chartered flights on Wednesday to Taipei, where they face prosecution, immigration spokeswoman Antonette Mangrobang said.
Eighty-seven mainland Chinese who were caught with them in a major bust across Manila last month are also due to be deported to China, she said.
Members of the gang operated out of several Manila homes, used the internet to contact mostly elderly victims in Taiwan and China and forced them to transfer their savings into a bank account they controlled, police said.
The suspects posed as Taiwanese or Chinese authorities and duped the victims into believing their bank accounts were being used by terrorists, they added.
Filipino police busted the group’s operation last month following a tip-off from Chinese and Taiwanese authorities.